THE IDENTIFICATION AND HALF LIVES OF FISSION-PRODUCT Rb92 AND Rb93

Abstract

The existence of two new rubidium isotopes, Rb92 and Rb93, has been established and their half lives measured. The half lives of these short-lived fission products were determined using a technique of timed precipitations. The values obtained for Rb92 and Rb93 were 5.3 ± 0.5 sec and 5.6 ± 0.5 sec respectively. The half lives of the strontium and yttrium daughters were also determined. The strontium isotopes were studied by observing the decay rate of a characteristic γ-ray peak. For Sr92, the decay of the 1.37-Mev line gave a value of 2.71 ± 0.02 hr. A γ-ray peak at 590 kev, which was found to be associated with Sr93, decayed with a half life of 7.54 ± 0.06 min. The half lives of the yttrium daughters were determined by β counting. The values found for Y92 and Y93 were 3.53 ± 0.02 hr and 10.1 ± 0.1 hr respectively.